The Woman Who Wanted To Be Queen and the Woman Who Wanted To Be Shah

THE WOMAN WHO WANTED TO BE QUEEN & THE WOMAN WHO WANTED TO BE SHAH

by NZK

THE LEGACY OF THE PAHLAVI DYNASTY is marred by its controversial inception and its catastrophic demise. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi led the royal family, begrudgingly at times, as The Man Forced to Be Shah, or so he was nicknamed. It is unlikely his reign would have lasted as long as it did without the two women who flanked him: his wife Farah and his twin sister Ashraf. When we speak about the Pahlavi era, we must begin to draw our conversations towards the real masterminds of this political period: the Woman Born to Be Queen and the Woman Born to Be Shah.

Farah Diba Pahlavi (Empress of Iran), Andy Warhol, 1977

Despite the title of secularism that existed during the Shah’s reign, the approach to women’s rights in Iran were not as disconnected from those of the current Islamic Regime’s as one would assume. On paper, Iran prided itself as a devoted member of the fight for women’s rights; however, in reality, the underlying expectation was for Iranian women to amend their feminism to fit within the freedom the men in power wished to give them. Even 1936’s kashf-e hijab, the royal decree enacted by Reza Shah to outlaw all Islamic veils, was at best pseudo-feminism in the name of the Westernization of Iran and at worst a strategic political moment that transitioned Iranian women from one form of dictatorial rule to another. Forcing Muslim women to remove their veils is not the same as offering Iranian women autonomy in their self-expression. In Pahlavi Iran, women were born to be ornaments—they existed to serve and provide for men. Whether they be mothers who carried the burden of home-making and cultural education for generations to come, or figureheads for the artificial feminism spearheaded by their male counterparts, Iranian women were exploited more than they were celebrated. Two women erupted from this era as victims of this misogyny: Farah Diba and Ashraf Pahlavi.

Farah Diba, lovingly known by the people of Iran as Shahbanu, was the sweetheart of Iran during her husband’s reign. Strategic in her public-facing image, Farah never misstepped in her role as Queen. Beloved by international and domestic crowds alike, Farah played into the ornamental, ceremonial role so commonly demanded from women in positions of political leadership. She was treated as a political and cultural tool, and nothing more. Her founding of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art in 1977 was first and foremost a ploy orchestrated by her husband and his advisors to catalyze Iranian modernization through the arts. The Iranian media, run by the Pahlavi government, glamorized her acquaintance with famous artists Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol to showcase how Iran could mold itself into that which the Western world desired it to become. Even her pregnancies were a service to the country by providing the Shah with male heirs — and two extra daughters. Whether it was to provide or to serve, Farah Pahlavi was the perfect Iranian woman, and nothing was more detrimental in her time as Queen than her willingness to play into this role. Farah Pahlavi provided the men in power of Iran with an example of the ideal Iranian woman, and proved that this unrealistic standard could be met. But at what cost?

Farah Ashraf Pahlavi (Princess of Iran), Andy Warhol, 1978

When Iranian women altered themselves into the ornament that Iranian society desired them to be, they were undoubtedly rewarded with praise and artificial appreciation. The Iranian media, run by the Pahlavi government, glamorized her acquaintance with famous artists Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol to showcase how Iran could mold itself into that which the Western world desired it to become. In contrast, when they refused to conform, or rather, were unable to conform, they were harshly punished, ostracized from the Iranian community, and shamed for their very being.

Ashraf Pahlavi was never meant to fit into the box that existed for Iranian women, nor was she a stellar beacon of feminism. She was a flawed and complex individual, something that an Iranian woman should be allowed to be remembered as without being villainized. Ashraf was at best a political weapon and at worst an addict, smuggler, and corrupt royal.

In order to truly understand the depth of Iranian society’s, and even the international media’s, internalized hatred of women in positions of political power, one can observe the monumental difference with which Ashraf and her brother are treated by history for their role in the 1953 coup, which overthrew the widely popular prime minister, Mossadegh. While the Shah is deemed a naïve, unassuming figure who begged for Mossadegh to be spared from execution, Ashraf is labeled a sexual deviant who seduced her way through Europe in order to get Operation AJAX rolling. Ashraf was a political tool in the same manner that Farah was, though her inability to assume the role of the perfect Iranian woman is what ultimately led to the destruction of her reputation. While Farah Pahlavi is still known today as the “Smiling Queen,” Ashraf Pahlavi is remembered as the “Shah’s Evil Twin Sister.”

To be a woman in Iran is to be a member of a collective. The actions of an Iranian woman always reflect on her gender. Farah and Ashraf Pahlavi were two sides of the same coin: both Iranian women, both members of the Pahlavi royal family, and both exploited as political weapons without any real credit for their contributions to Iran and their years of service to their country and to their family. One woman chose to remain in the aesthetic and behavioral confines of Iranian gender norms and was rewarded for it, while one woman was unable to do so and was punished. The interchangeability of Farah and Ashraf Pahlavi is all circumstantial. Iranian women are either lucky enough to fit into the standards set by the Iranian patriarchy, or they are doomed from their birth.